Dec 12,2007 00:00 by
UPI BOSTON -- The family of a woman killed in a ceiling collapse in Boston's Big Dig is expected to accept a $6 million settlement from one of the companies involved.

Powers Fasteners, the only company facing criminal charges over the collapse, has offered the settlement, The Boston Globe reported. Milena Del Valle's family has also sued other contractors, the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, the company that managed the project.

The Big Dig, which created an underground highway to replace an elevated one that ran through central Boston, is one of the most massive public works projects ever undertaken in the United States. The project was plagued by cost overruns and delays.

Powers Fasteners, headquartered in Brewster, N.Y., supplied ceiling bolt epoxy. Its failure has been blamed for the collapse that killed Del Valle, and the company has been charged with manslaughter.

"When any party who is indicted works hard to make peace and find some measure of justice for the victim's family, it may not resolve the criminal matter, but it can hardly hurt it," a lawyer told the Globe.